Listen to Your Heart
by serenadesirene
Summary: In trying to help other people with their relationship problems Serenity finds love in the last person her or her friends expected. But will she realize it through her own stubborness? Or will it be too late? I can't write summaries, but please read.
1. Start Planning

**Authors Note:** New story, I have to get my writing out some way other than role-playing for once. So yes, read it, review it, and I hope you love it!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the related characters nor do I own the song "Listen to Your Heart".

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**_Chapter One:_**

**Start Planning**

**-**

Serenity Wheeler had never thought of herself as someone who followed the pack without caring whether she lost her own identity or not. Sure, she had thought about it ever since gaining her sight again since she was always with Yugi and Joey and the rest of the gang. She loved them all dearly, they were her best friends, he only friends really, and they accepted her like they had been childhood buddies and knew every dirty little secret about each other. With that though, she did fear she'd lose herself. Letting a group of people know _that_ much about you was creepy, it felt like you were just standing naked in front of an audience while they evaluated your every flaw, and that scared her like nothing else. It was like she was revealing so much of herself that she _was_ losing herself, her identity. After all, what was the fun with having friends if she didn't keep her own secrets from them? None. Though, for some time now she's felt as if she was what people called her: Yugi's little cheerleader. She feared becoming like Tea, always so perky and all that, she liked Tea but that didn't mean she wasn't annoying as Hell most of the time. Perhaps that was why Serenity had found a solace in Mai Valentine lately. She was just so sure of herself that when Joey wasn't fawning over her, Serenity looked to the woman as a sister, or perhaps a mentor. Yes, an identity mentor. Wow, was that as lame and pathetic as it sounded? Maybe she _should_ actually get some sleep.

_"…you know, I don't think Joey will ever work up the courage with Mai. He's about the most self-assured person I know, well, besides Mai herself, but he still melts like ice cream when she looks at him. It's pretty sad, really. __But yet…extremely hilarious.__ They love each other, that's pretty obvious and it makes me happy that there's finally someone in Joey's life, but…I can't help but feel a bit jealous when they're together and I'm all alone. You know, they might have been a bit unrealistic, my thoughts, but I still thought that I'd have someone by know. Maybe not that person I was meant to spend my life with, but at least someone who could keep me happy. Oh well, I'm used to disappointment. Anyways…--"_

"Seren! You sleepin' yet?" Joey yelled from the other room, his butt obviously far too comfortable to do the prying parent practice of cracking the door open ever so quietly to see if their baby was sleeping. He was at least trying to be the good adult.

A soft sigh expelled from her lungs, "No, Joe, I'm finishing something up and then I will." Without another sound from him she took that as an acceptance as Serenity looked back at the beaten up baby blue diary of hers again. Her loopy but neat scrawl filled up about every ounce of blank paper it could find, that, and her ever so present doodles. She had kept a diary, sometimes for her own sanity, ever since the divorce. It had become such a habit of writing everything down that she honestly couldn't sleep until it was finished. Sure, that probably wasn't the healthiest thing, but it was better than Joey's need to watch Cops while eating a PB&J before even walking into his room. Sometimes it was a miracle when he actually got the parental thing right, as strange and immature as he was. But Joey was eighteen and their mom was sick, so Serenity lived with him. It really wasn't a hard decision to move into the small two bedroom one bath apartment in the heart of Domino, it was just hard living with the man.

Serenity looked over at the neon clock, 9:01.

_"…__It's__ 9:01 and Joey's yelling as if I'm committing some great crime. Does he really think I'm five years old? I'm sixteen Joey, sixteen, get that in your head now. I can drive, I can date, __and I can stay up past 9:00. I'll succumb for now, but just wait, he'll push me enough that I lash out and tell him off. __Might as well go to bed, no reason in making him get up from the couch.__Night."_

She finished the entry with a scribbled heart and in the margin, Joey in a dog suit with her holding the leash. That was probably one of her favorite stories that Yugi had told her—in private of course—about Joey losing to Duke Devlin and being stuck in a giant dog suit. She would have given anything to see that one.

Locking her diary up and placing it in it's usual spot in her nightstand drawer, Serenity pulled the lavender comforter over her head and waited for sleep, letting her wild thoughts race themselves out so her mind might have some peace in a few minutes. Why wouldn't Joey stand up to Mai? It was more than obvious that he was head over heels for her and Mai was too, in her own way. Lord, it was so frustrating when two people had something good and couldn't even see it. Maybe that was going to have to be her goal for this month, getting those two idiots to see that they have something.

_Something I wish I could have. Wait…where did that thought come from?_ Serenity thought somewhat frantically. She had never worried before about being single, she never really cared. She _was_ only sixteen, it wasn't _that_ big of a deal. _It's just…um…hormones. Yeah, that's it._ She concluded, thinking of the first excuse that came to mind. Forcing her mind to take it as acceptable, she drifted off to sleep.

----------------

Well, this morning had definitely been interesting. In Joey's have-asleep mode that he was always in every morning Serenity lightly dropped the question of if Joey and Mai were ever going to tie the knot. He blushed the brightest shade of red that Serenity had to keep from bursting out in laughter between his face and his stuttering.

_"W-what did you say?!" Joey sputtered through his glass of coffee, trying not to spit it out through his nose and spray it all over the kitchen. That caused Serenity to lose her control for at least a little bit as she snorted._

_"Well, you've been seeing her haven't you? At least casually? I like her. Haven't you at least thought about it?"_

_"N-no." He said sheepishly, the lie extremely evident in his higher pitched voice._

_"If you say so…" Serenity smiled, chuckling a little bit as she walked out the door to drive to school._

If he even had the guts to bring it up when she got home, she was in for a lovely talk about how relationships were much more complicated then she made them out to be and you couldn't do those kid of things out of the blue. Nope, you had to _wait_, and _consider_ the other person's feelings in the mix. She'd heard it all before. Like she'd know? Gosh, she was just saying what came to mind, what she felt was right, was that so horrible? Oh well.

It wasn't her fault nobody took her advice seriously. It wasn't like she decided she was never going to have any kind of relationship experience to speak of by the time she tried giving advice. Nothing ever came up was all. The only guy she actually talked to besides her brother was Yugi and he was just as good as a brother, he had never even thought about her in that way and for that Serenity was so thankful because she had Tristan and Duke practically fighting to see who would win her over first. She was _so_ going to laugh when she got a date and they realized they pretty much missed their chance.

---------------

The girl across the net from her grunted audibly as she swung at the little yellow ball with her racquet, Serenity swung back with enough force that it sailed across and hit the field once before bouncing right under her partner's racquet. She was about to do a mental victory dance—like any _professional_ athlete would—when a brief shout warned her of a soaring basketball she couldn't quite avoid.

She would have told you that she was positive she was still standing up if the throbbing pain in her head didn't follow a couple minutes later. Sure, she had both thuds, the one against her head and then the one as her head met the floor, but she thought she was still seeing straight not that her vision had briefly frozen on her eyelids.

"You okay?" She heard the voice of her tennis partner first, overacting on some corner as usual. This was a male voice, gentle, concerned. "Gosh, Kaiba, you really did it this time." He mocked condescendingly.

"I'll take her to the nurse then." Said the deep hard voice of Seto Kaiba, it sounded like it was laced with…regret? About what? Hitting her or volunteering to take care of her? The second one was more likely but Serenity still hoped for the first.

"I-I'm really sorry about that…I should have moved out of the way…" Serenity said in a weak voice, her vision cloudy as her head throbbed.

Seto looked down at her with his blazing blue eyes, she looked like a rag doll as he carried her, so delicate. He didn't know someone could look so…breakable. Did she even realize what was going on? He carried her in his arms because there seemed to be no other way to get her mobile and she just lay there, completely limp. How hard did he throw that ball to ricochet off the backboard like that?

"It was too fast, you wouldn't have made it. Now…just… stop talking." Okay, not the gentlest words, but Kaiba had never been good at giving anything but answers and orders. He had been raised a business man and nothing but Mokuba had ever broken him out of that stream of consciousness before to start him talking any different.

It seemed she had passed out again, better for him think. So this was the Runt, Wheeler's little sister. Well, at least she hadn't shared his looks, but she was still one of Yugi's little groupies, another Tea, another cheerleader. That was more than he could bear to think about, two Tea's were enough to make anybody shiver.

_Finally…_ He thought with relief as they finally reached the nurses office.

* * *

**Author's note:** So what did you think? Not a lot has happened, I know, but I want to know from you guys if you want me to keep writing or not. There will be plenty of SxS squishy-ness so don't worry. And if you have any suggestions, or _ideas_ of what you think should happen in the story I'll read everything and who knows…I could use your own idea in the story! God, I sound like a contest announcer. "You could even have your VERY OWN IDEA used in Toxic's new story!"

Lot's of reviews make me write…well, post what I've written. But they make me write too!

Tschuss!


	2. Down Boy

_**Listen To Your Heart**_

**Authors Note:** I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart. In all honesty I posted the first chapter at a less than ideal time as it was the week before my senior year started. As you can guess: Life got in the way. This chapter went very slowly and I'm hoping that I can get a few more out before my schedule gets too hectic.

It is true I implied I had some pre-written chapters and I did. The problem was, I completely rewrote the first chapter to the point that the other three didn't make sense anymore. So I apologize for that too. Thank you for your comments though, they really meant a lot. And all of the favorites! Those got me smiling on some pretty bad days, you have no clue how much you all mean to me and I apologize that I started this inconveniently. I promise I won't give up on this story. I promise I'll get some new chapters out. So please stick with me, and most of all, review!

Much love, Toxic.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the related characters nor do I own the song "Listen to Your Heart".

_**Chapter Two:**_

**Down Boy**

It was all very blurry, even her memories. Then, again, that was probably due to the incessantly annoying throb in the back of her head. Was it the back? It almost felt like it was pushing against the front of her skull too. Pushing against the front, the sides, everywhere, like it was a balloon ready to pop from the pressure. Cracking open her eyes, the light blinded her, creating fuzzy inversed shadows in her vision. Like Plato's "Allegory of a Cave" when the freed prisoner ventures into the light and can't see until his sight adjusts to the sun.

Her vision had finally stopped spinning and her eyes focused on the first thing they could find, a pair of cold cobalt eyes. Trying to sit up forced a grunt out of her once her head started spinning again.

"Good, I can leave now." Said the cobalt eyes in a low gruff voice. It could sound like melted chocolate if it wanted, but instead it sounded like damp sand. Smooth to the eyes but still gruff to the touch. But that was just how Seto Kaiba was, even though Serenity could remember the warmth of his arms, he was still a cold emotionless man. He turned to leave.

"Wait!" Kaiba's body turned again; still stiff as a board he looked at where the meek voice came from. His eyes were confusing, a torrent of barricaded emotions, like a war was raging just within his eyes without his knowledge. Serenity wasn't sure if she could escape, it was like they were begging her to solve their mystery, begging her to drown. She mentally shook herself of the idea, stilling her curiosity long enough to speak. "Thank you. For bringing me here." She bowed the best she could while laying down.

One of Seto's brows arched slightly. Why was she apologizing to him? He was the one that threw the ball. But like he was ever going to admit that _he_ should be the one apologizing? No, I think not. "Don't get use to it, Runt." He said with an air of contempt in his voice, turning away again to walk out. He thought he might have heard her growl in response to his comment.

Once Domino's "Rich and Famous" was finished walking out the door, Serenity let her snarl drop to just a scowl. _Why does he have to be so…annoyingly aggravating! (I'm not sure if that even made sense…) He does one nice thing and then __bam,__ he's back to his old self. He couldn't even be nice for a day if he wanted to! And _what_ was with the Runt comment?_

Deciding to calm down, Serenity exhaled audibly once she realized she had been holding her breath. The nurse came in to examine her a last time, giving Serenity the practiced speech about going to the hospital if she was dizzy, faint, or tinny hearing since she had a mild concussion. Freeing herself from the nurse's office, Serenity walked to the last half of her fifth hour class. "Oh God…" she realized suddenly, "what's Joey going to say?" Serenity fussed and groaned over the thought, scrubbing a hand through her auburn hair in worry.

* * *

"He did what?!" Joey shrieked, "Why I oughta knock that rich-boy Kaiba's head right off!" He looked like he could kill at the moment, his stance resembling a cat ready to pounce.

"Joey, I'm fine." Serenity pushed, though secretly she _really _wanted to see Kaiba getting sucker-punched by Joey. "I blacked out, he took me to the nurse, stayed until I woke up and then he left." She explained carefully, trying to make Kaiba seem a little warmer than he actually was; somehow she didn't think it worked. "I have all my limbs, just a few less brain cells," walking over to Joey, Serenity carefully placed her hands on his shoulders "don't worry. I'm perfectly fine."

He just growled, folding tense arms over his chest and exhaling loudly. Joey knew full-well that he was going to get her answer the same every time so he decided it was best to just shut up. In fact, it'd probably be better in the long run, Serenity tended to get a little vicious when he talked more than he should.

Especially when he knew she was right.

"Good boy!" She chided, scratching behind his ear like he was puppy; she half expected Joey to snap his jaw at her. Patting his head just to tempt fate a little more, Serenity disappeared into her room to do the little homework she had left and what she had needed to do all day; think.

* * *

At least _that_ day was over and done with. Seto Kaiba sighed with relief as he rubbed his temples in the comfort of his own office at home. Any sane human being would feel guilty for that fiasco in gym, but Kaiba? Kaiba didn't feel guilt, but more a sense of…joy? Wow, that sounded much more sadistic than he had meant it to. He was almost glad it happened though; Wheeler was…he wasn't sure what to say about her.

"Seto!" The door swung open and hit the wall, "Oops!" Mokuba smiled innocently, his mess of black hair looking strange with the formal school uniform. "I saw your car in the garage; I was just surprised you were home this early." Seto thought back to the past week. He had been home pretty late for quite some time, usually coming home to sleep and then leave in the morning.

"So how was your day?" Mokuba grinned, excited to have some contact with his brother for once.

"Interesting…to say the least." Interesting it was. It still amused him that the Runt had growled at him, actually growled. That spark definitely interested him because it was so different than all of the other zombies in Yugi's little pack. He wondered how far he could push her before she totally snapped at him, after all, she was Joey's sister; Kaiba was quite sure she had it in her to snap at someone if she cared enough to. _But what would I have to do for __that to happen…?_He wondered. Looking back at his brother, Kaiba realized that the boy had been talking this whole time. Deciding he need to respond, he nodded and made a small grunt, hoping Mokuba was too into his own voice not to notice Seto wasn't paying attention.

_I wonder…_


End file.
